Method and system for retrieving and serving regulatory history for a property

ABSTRACT

Described are methods and systems for retrieving and serving the regulatory history of a property. For example, an identification of data sources for permits and approvals is stored in a computer system. Property identifiers from the data sources are stored in the computer system. The system identifies the types of permit and approval data available from each of the data sources for each of the property identifiers. A determination can be made of the completeness of the regulatory history available for each property associated with each of said property identifiers. The system receives a request for the regulatory history of at least one of the properties associated with the property identifiers. A web page may be populated with a list of the regulatory history for the property.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/659,333, filed on Jul. 25, 2017, which is a continuation of Ser. No.15/390,027, filed Dec. 23, 2016, a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/006,856, filed Jan. 26, 2016, which is acontinuation of Ser. No. 14/079,217, filed Nov. 13, 2013, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/606,656, filed Sep.7, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/434,489, filed May 1, 2009, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/419,112 filed Apr. 6, 2009, and is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/252,413,filed Oct. 16, 2008, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/945,988 filed Nov. 27, 2007, and is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/073,578filed Mar. 8, 2005, the entire disclosures of each of which are herebyincorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE RELATED ART

The regulatory history of a parcel of real property consists of past,present and future permits and approvals. Such future permits andapprovals may be, e.g., permits and approvals necessitated orcontemplated by new, proposed or anticipated legislation, regulations,laws, or other rules. Historically, governmental authorities providecitizens, corporations and other types of entities, non-governmentalorganizations and other governmental authorities access to theregulatory history of a parcel of real property via paper files.

Certain governmental authorities provide electronic access to portionsof the regulatory history of property within the authority'sjurisdiction. For example, in Florida, each county's property appraiserprovides content to a county-specific database on which certain recordsconnected with properties within the county are made available to thepublic.

In connection with real estate transactions, financing and development,parties perform regulatory due diligence which requires assembling thecomplete regulatory history of a property. Regulatory due diligence istypically performed by lawyers, engineers, land planners or otherprofessionals. Liability considerations usually preclude assigning thiswork to assistants and clerical level personnel. The permits willcertainly be reviewed by a professional and will be the subject of afinal legal opinion or report. Overlooking a particular Permit orApproval could easily lead to an inaccurate and/or incomplete report andultimately giving the wrong advice.

Currently, one has to travel the offices of each of the applicablegovernmental authorities and in many cases, such as a local government,the various departments thereof such as the planning, zoning, building,public works, environmental resources and other departments. (Othergovernmental authorities are subdivided into bureaus, sections,districts and the like.) At the reception desk for each, one has torequest the file for the particular property and provide the particularmeans of identifying that particular property used by that governmentalauthority or department thereof Sometimes it is necessary to wait forthe first available staff member to assist you. Other times you arepointed in the direction of banks of filing cabinets and left to locatethe desired file on your own. The governmental authority or departmentmay have a system for organizing the files that is either unfamiliar oraltogether a poor system. Files may be disorganized, misplaced orinexplicably missing. Missing files may be checked out to or in usewithout any tracking or other record by a staff member of thegovernmental authority or department thereof and must be located. Oncethe file (or more likely files) is located, it (they) must be reviewedfor the desired permits and approvals. Items to be copied which areusually voluminous and often include plans, drawings or maps must betabbed in some manner for copying by the first available clerical levelemployee of the governmental authority or department. Once copied, thegovernmental authority or department thereof collects for the copies.The process is repeated at the next governmental authority ordepartment. Some governmental authorities or departments accept requestsfor copies of permits and approvals by letter and will process therequest on an hourly rate basis, plus copy charges and shipping. Suchgovernmental authorities have already or are in the process of scanningsuch paper files to convert them to a digital image that can be accessedelectronically on the website of such governmental authority ordepartment thereof by inputting the means of identifying such parcel ofreal property utilized by that particular governmental authority.

SUMMARY

According to one embodiment, a method and system for retrieving andserving the regulatory history of a property are provided. Anidentification of data sources for permits and approvals is stored in acomputer system. Property identifiers from the data sources are storedin the computer system. The system identifies the types of permit andapproval data available from each of the data sources for each of theproperty identifiers. A determination is made of the completeness of theregulatory history available for each property associated with each ofsaid property identifiers. The system receives a request for theregulatory history of at least one of the properties associated with theproperty identifiers. A web page is populated with a list of theregulatory history for the property.

In another embodiment, the system provides a data layering feature bywhich the computer layers the maps or other data, e.g., GIS data, ofeach of the respective governmental authorities. Utilizing the software,the computer automatically searches the particular means of identifyingthe property that has been input by the user. In another embodiment,utilizing the software, the computer recognizes the form of the means ofidentifying the property that has been input by the user andautomatically retrieves data from the website or data source of thegovernmental authority with the corresponding form before searching thewebsites or data sources of the other governmental authorities. A matchis found at, e.g., the website or data source of one of the applicablegovernmental authorities, and this match is used to identify theproperty. The data layering feature of the system enables the computerto automatically perform a layering of the maps or other data, e.g., GISdata, of other governmental authorities with the map or other data,e.g., GIS data, of such governmental authority identifying theparticular property, resulting in the positive identification of theparticular property for purposes of the websites or data sources of theother governmental authorities without regard to the means ofidentifying a particular property utilized by a particular governmentalauthority.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of atleast one embodiment of the disclosure.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method foroperating a web crawler.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart illustrating one embodiment of a method forreceiving and serving requests from users.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram illustrating a system for practicing themethods of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

In one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a method and systemfor retrieving and serving regulatory history for a property, which mayinclude different particular types of information from various datasources. In certain embodiments, the present disclosure includes a stepof storing the regulatory history. The regulatory history for a propertyincludes past, present and future actions of federal, state, regional,agency, local and other governmental authorities and departments,districts, bureaus or other subdivisions thereof relating to activitiesinvolving commercial and residential real estate and improvementsthereon, such as ownership, sale, purchase, transfer, exchange, leasing,financing, development, change in intensity of use or density,management, maintenance, permitting, assemblage, subdivision,redevelopment, clearing, filling, expansion, construction,reconstruction, building, remodeling, alteration, tenant finish,demolition, rehabilitation, drilling, mining, excavation, deposit(refuse, solid or liquid waste or fill), conservation, mitigation,protection, remediation, landscaping, alteration of a shore or bank (ofa seacoast, river, stream, lake, pond or canal), waterscaping,architecture, design, planning, engineering and legal and all othermanner of permits and approvals pertaining to the property, includingpermits, approvals, waivers, exceptions, exemptions, findings,determinations, hearings, or other official action(s) by any suchgovernmental authority or subdivision thereof in connection with any ofthe foregoing activities, building permits, zoning permits, platapprovals, subdivision approvals, rezonings, comprehensive plansamendments, certifications, special exceptions, variances, developmentorders (granting, denying or granting with conditions an application forany of the foregoing), and any of the foregoing pertaining toconcurrency, consistency, development of regional impact, future landuse map amendments, comprehensive plan amendments, annexation, or sectorplanning. Examples of different particular types of information or data,from various data sources, may include information relating to any ofthe following: location, governing jurisdiction, tax parcel number,planning area, sector planning area, overlay zone or district, zoning(current, proposed, overlay district, permitted uses, specialexceptions, conditional use approvals, allowable density, allowableintensity, planned unit development, non-conforming uses, etc.), masterplan, site plan, land use classification, future land useclassification, comprehensive plan status (consistency, etc.), impactfees, adequate public facilities requirements, concurrency, impacts topublic facilities and/or services, proffers, acreage (gross, netdevelopable, achievable density, etc.), access (paved dedicated publicright-of-way, private, programmed road improvements, applicabledeveloper's agreements), potable water (availability and adequacy,nearest water line, distance, sizing, current/proposed capacity of waterplant, etc.), sewer (availability and adequacy, location of nearestsewer line, distance, sizing, current/proposed capacity of sewage plant,etc.), existing easements (easements appurtenant, easements in gross,proposed easements/rights-of-way for proposed utilities and/or roadways,etc.), utilities (power plants, availability at the site of natural gas,electric power, telephone, high-speed internet, etc.), floodplain orflooding (FEMA maps, coastal construction control line, etc.), resourceprotection areas (RPA maps, etc.), soils and other geotechnical data(soil book, water table, etc.), market analysis (rooftops withinspecified distance, competing uses within specified distance,comparables, absorption rates, square footage, price per square foot,etc.), feasibility data, location/site prominence or visibility (statusof surrounding properties, etc.), historic and/or archaeological sitesor considerations, traffic data (level of service, vehicle counts,signalization, proposed widenings, programmed improvements, etc.),topographic information (aerials, maps, historic data, etc.), vegetativeinformation (wetland species, upland species, wetlands determinations,etc.), wetlands, uplands, conservation areas, threatened and endangeredspecies (environmental permitting considerations, etc.), environmentalcontamination from hazardous waste or materials for Phase 1 or Phase 2environmental audit, title examination, title record (covenants andrestrictions, easements, mortgages, liens, encumbrances and othermatters of records, recorded plat, etc.), brownfields, remediation forenvironmental contamination (fuel storage tanks, status of clean-up,etc.), building code violations and/or code enforcement actions andsimilar matters, mineral rights, mineral leases, existing or proposedbuilding and/or development regulations (setbacks, open spacerequirements, parking, floor area ratio, impervious surface ratio,height, etc.), ceilings, floors, airports, rail (light rail and othertransit systems), military training facilities, roads (propertyconfiguration and frontage on abutting roads), riparian rights, meanhigh water determination (data pertaining to waterfront properties,etc.), property taxes (assessed values, millage rates, proposed taxincreases, status of payment of property taxes, etc.), condemnation,eminent domain, marina data (caps on wet slips, dry slips, etc.).

Users of the system include owners, developers, buyers, sellers,landlords, tenants, brokers, realtors, law firms, land planning firms,engineering firms, environmental permitting firms, brokerage firms(sales and leasing), surveying firms, appraisal firms, real estatemanagement firms, federal, state and local governmental authorities, aswell as others having an interest in or otherwise dealing with realestate and related matters.

The system obtains and provides to the user for their review andanalysis permits and approvals of federal, state, regional, agency,local and other governmental authorities relating to activitiesinvolving commercial and residential real estate such as ownership,sale, purchase, transfer, exchange, leasing, financing, development,management, maintenance, permitting, assemblage, redevelopment,expansion, construction, reconstruction, remodeling, tenant finish,demolition, rehabilitation, conservation, mitigation, protection,remediation, landscaping, waterscaping, architecture, design, planning,engineering and legal.

The method utilizes data available through the internet to access acomplete regulatory history of permits and approvals for a particularproperty from websites or other data sources of governmental authoritiesor similar sources, such as local government websites, land recordsoffices, zoning departments, planning departments, building departments,public works departments, engineering departments, environmentalresources departments, property appraisers' websites, clerks officewebsites, records retention websites, public library/recordkeepingwebsites, zoning/land development regulation websites, and the like. Aweb crawler can be used to automatically populate a database ofavailable permits and approvals for particular properties.

FIG. 1 shows a method 100 for operation of a web crawler in accordancewith certain embodiments. The steps shown may be iteratively repeated ona regular basis, such as each night or continuously. At step 102, theURLs of websites that are known to contain permit or approval data arestored in a local database. As an alternative to URLs, other identifierssufficient to determine the network location of the data sources may bestored. The web crawler may be programmed to use keyword searches toautomatically search the internet for appropriate data sources andretrieve the identifiers, with or without human intervention. The dataidentifying relevant data sources may also be input as a filecontaining, for example, comma separated values, or in XML format. Thedata identifying relevant data sources is stored in a local database,which may reside on the same physical computer as the web crawlersoftware or on a separate computer.

At step 104, property identifiers are stored in the local database. Theproperty identifiers comprise data sufficient to uniquely identify oneor more properties about which permit and approval data are availablefrom one or more of the data sources. The property identifiers mayinclude tax parcel numbers, metes and bounds legal descriptions, sectionland legal descriptions, GPS coordinates, property addresses,subdivision plat description, State, City, County, Street Address, LotNumber, permit number or date, approval number or date, othersignificant date, or others. The property identifiers may beautomatically retrieved from the data sources identified in step 102 bythe web crawler. Alternatively, the property identifiers may be input asa file containing, for example, comma separated values, or in XMLformat.

At step 106, the web crawler identifies the types of permit and approvaldata available for the identified properties from each identified datasource. Permit and approval types include, e.g., permit, approval,waiver, exception, exemption, building permit, zoning permit, plattapproval, subdivision approval, rezoning, certification, specialexception, variance, development order. Human intervention may be usedalong with the web crawler to classify permit and approval dataavailable from a particular data source into a particular type. Thetypes of permit approval data available from a particular data sourceare stored in the local database.

At step 108, the data types identified at step 106 are used to create anindex of where and how each data type can be found on each data source.

At step 110, the types of permit and approval data available for aparticular property from the various data sources are associated in thelocal database with the property identifier for the property.

At step 112 a determination of the completeness of the regulatoryhistory that is available from all data sources for a particularproperty is determined. In this step, the system can apply businessrules to determine whether a complete regulatory history, sufficient torely upon for purposes of due diligence, is available to the system foreach property. Such business rules include, e.g., whether regulatoryhistory was found at a particular governmental authority where pertinentregulatory history would be expected to be found for the property ofinterest. At step 114, records for individual properties for which theregulatory history is incomplete are flagged in the local database.

At step 116, the system seeks alternate data sources to complete theregulatory history. As with the initial step of retrieving and storingan identification of data sources at step 102, step 116 may be automatedor involve manual input of the identification of alternate data sources.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 by which the system assists a user inconducting regulatory due diligence once the web crawler has retrievedand stored data in accordance with FIG. 1. At step 202, the systemreceives from the user an identifier for a property of interest. Thesystem may receive the information via a web interface to the user, bydirect input of the identifier into the system by the user or others,via a private network, via the internet, or other known communicationmedium

The identifier received from the user may be, e.g., one or more of: atax parcel number, a metes and bounds legal description, a section landlegal description, GPS coordinates, a property address, a subdivisionplat description, a State, a City, a County, a Street Address, a LotNumber, or others. In an alternative embodiment, the system may receiveall property identifiers for a particular property of interest.

At step 204, the system uses the identifier received from the user toidentify one or more records in its local database for the specifiedproperty. As an alternative to consulting the local database, the systemmay go out to the data source and, using the identifier input by theuser, retrieve property matches or possible matches, or additionalproperty identifiers. The matching step 204 is preferably automatic, butcould be performed manually. If a match is not found, the user is sonotified at step 206. If multiple possible matches are found, the usermay be prompted at this step to disambiguate between the matches. If apotential match is found, the user can be prompted to confirm the match.If below a certain predetermined threshold, the system would determinethat there is a match. Otherwise, the system may alert the proprietor ofthe system to manually determine a match.

In layering maps or similar data from the governmental authorities,discrepancies may result in how the property is described by onegovernmental authority to the next arising from governmental authoritiesutilizing differing means to describe real property. The system mayresolve any uncertainty in its matching process automatically asfollows. The system using existing standard GIS techniques determinesany discrepancies between how the property is described from onegovernmental authority to the next, reconciles and thereby determines amatch. This process may also be utilized with the data layering featuredescribed below. In another embodiment, the system includes softwarecode for displaying a map showing states, counties, cities, and similartypes of jurisdictional limits of governmental authorities of all types.In such embodiments, the system automatically performs an operation todetermine the appropriate governmental authority for various purposes.For example, this operation would facilitate the identification of theappropriate governmental authority with jurisdiction over property taxesand the appropriate governmental authority with jurisdiction overpermitting, which may be the same or different jurisdiction.

If step 204 results in a match being found in the local database, thecompleteness of the available records, which was determined previouslyat step 112 (FIG. 1), is checked and the user is notified of same atstep 210.

At step 212, a list of available documents is generated. This step canbe performed either online with the sources of available information oroffline by referring to the local database. In online embodiments, thesystem uses the index created at step 101 (FIG. 1) to communicate witheach of the sources of available “information for the identifiedproperty and obtain from them lists of available documents for theproperty. Alternatively, in an offline embodiment, the system can referto its local database to compile the list of all available documents forthe property. At step 214, the list is displayed to the user.

At step 216, the system receives the user's selection of one or moredocuments to download. This selection may be a selection of alldocuments in the regulatory history of the property of interest. At step218, the selected documents are uploaded to the user. In certainembodiments of the system, this step or previous steps will involveobtaining authorization from the user to charge a user's account orcredit card for a fee for use of the system.

In certain embodiments, the system provides a data layering feature bywhich the computer automatically layers the maps or other data, e.g.,GIS data, of each of the respective governmental authorities. Utilizingthe software, the computer automatically searches the particular meansof identifying the property that has been input by the user, such as atax parcel number, metes and bounds legal description, section landlegal description, GIS data, property address, subdivision platdescription, GPS data, spatial data sets, spatial coordinates, uniqueI.D., centroid, cadastre, tabular data, attributes, non-spatial data,georeference data. etc., at each of the websites or data sources for thevarious governmental authorities until a match is found. In anotherembodiment, utilizing the software, the computer recognizes the form ofthe means of identifying the property that has been input by the userand automatically retrieves data from the website or data source of thegovernmental authority with the corresponding form before searching thewebsites or data sources of the other governmental authorities. Forexample, if the user inputted the tax parcel number for the particularproperty, utilizing the software, the computer would automatically runsearches at the various governmental authorities for a match. Inaccordance with this example, a match is found at the applicableproperty appraiser's website. Utilizing the software, this match is usedto identify the property. The data layering feature of the softwareenables the computer to automatically perform a layering of the maps orother data, e.g., GIS data, of other governmental authorities with theproperty appraiser's map or other data, e.g., GIS data, identifying theparticular property resulting in the positive identification of theparticular property for purposes of the websites or data sources of theother governmental authorities without regard to the means ofidentifying a particular property utilized by a particular governmentalauthority.

In one embodiment, utilizing the software, the computer retrieves andstores the particular means of identifying a property utilized by eachgovernmental authority for later use in performing other operations.Having identified the particular property on each of the websites foreach of the governmental authorities, the computer, utilizing the webcrawler component of the present disclosure, automatically performssearches of the websites of the various governmental authorities for thepermits and approvals, as previously defined. Therefore, utilizing themeans of identifying a particular property employed by any one of theapplicable governmental authorities, the data layering feature of thesoftware would automatically identify a particular property at thewebsites of all of the governmental authorities.

In one embodiment, utilizing the software, the computer searches for andretrieve all permits and approvals for a particular property utilizingthe method above. In another embodiment, utilizing the software, thecomputer performs only such part of the foregoing operations as may benecessary to execute a custom search ordered by a user. For example, auser desiring only a particular approval of one governmental authoritywould place an order providing the one or more means of identifying theparticular property at his disposal and inputting as a custom search thename of the particular permit or permits desired to be obtained. Inanother embodiment, utilizing the software and a user interface featurea user under a custom search would view the layering of the maps orsimilar data and utilizing certain commands move from the web site ofone governmental authority to that of another governmental authority toscan for and select desired permits and approvals and relatedinformation.

The system can be configured such that volume users have an establishedaccount or other contractual relationship with the proprietor of thesystem. Volume users may be offered volume discounts. Other prospectiveusers will go inline to a web site associated with the system andcomplete a single transaction from time to time. Transactions may bepriced on a flat fee basis, time to execute the transaction, kilobytesof data retrieved or similar bases of compensation.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a system for carrying out the methodsdescribed above. A service provider 305 includes a web crawler 330 and aweb server 310, which are accessed and controlled by one or moreworkstation computers 315. The web crawler 330 and the web server 310both have access to a local database 320.

The web crawler 330 identifies and connects to a plurality of webservers 367, 369, 371 at data sources 307, 309, 311. The data sources307, 309, 311 may be, e.g., government operated web sites. Each of theweb servers 367, 369, 371 has access to a database 360, 362 and 365wherein property records are stored. The web crawler queries thedatabases 360, 362, 365 via the web servers 367, 369, 371 to extractdata and/or identify the URLs of the location of data or documentsconcerning particular properties. Of course, the data sources may bebackend databases of governmental or non-governmental entities which areaccessed directly by the system and not via a public-facing website.Such direct access can be provided by the database administrators, andsuch access may include access to fields and/or records in the databasethat are not accessible to the public via the public facing website.

In some embodiments, the system includes security measures to preventhacking or other security concerns which may adversely affect agovernmental authority or other data source. For example, firewalltechnologies can be utilized between the website or data source of thegovernmental authority and the system of the present disclosure.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and describedwith respect to certain embodiments thereof, it should be readilyapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes andmodification in form and details may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. It isintended that the present invention cover modifications and variationsof this invention within the scope of the appended claims and theirequivalents. The invention described is not limited to the variousexamples and embodiments in this document, but rather, it is intendedthat the individual claims point out and claim the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: using a local computerselectively coupled to a plurality of remote computers via acommunications network, the plurality of remote computers having realproperty history data associated therewith, and having data sourcesassociated therewith, an alternate remote computer having a data sourceassociated therewith that is different from the data sources associatedwith each of said plurality of remote computers, the local computerbeing used to communicate with the plurality of remote computers overthe communications network to build a database, wherein the realproperty history data includes any records of real property informationavailable for identified properties from each identified data source;storing a first identifier of a first data source of a first type ofreal property information in the database; storing a different secondidentifier of a different second data source of a second type of realproperty information in the database; performing automatically datalayering of the data sources, wherein a data layering feature of asoftware automatically identifies a particular property with realproperty information from a plurality of governmental authorities,utilities, or public works; generating a data source index associating aplurality of types of real property information with respectiveidentifiers of a plurality of different data sources, the plurality oftypes of real property information including the first type of realproperty information and the second type of real property information,and the plurality of different data sources including the first datasource and the second data source; receiving a user input including anidentifier of a selected property of interest to search the datasources; retrieving from the first source and the second source, usingthe data source index and matching the identifier of the property, aplurality of records to populate a web interface with the plurality ofrecords of the real property information of the property including thefirst type of real property information and the second type of realproperty information; determining automatically a potential match forthe property based on a predetermined threshold and prompting the userto confirm the match, wherein the matching process includes determiningany discrepancies between how the property is described by differentgovernmental authorities, utilities, or public works, and reconcilingthem; overlaying, on a user interface, at least one of data layers ofreal property information, for the property from the plurality of remotecomputers, and display the layering of geographical information system(GIS) data on the user interface based upon user input to the userinterface; determining automatically that the retrieved real propertyinformation is incomplete, using business rules and based on the datasource index including at least one type of real property informationthat is unavailable in the retrieved real property information of theproperty in the database; flagging automatically the identifier of theproperty as incomplete in the database; and identifying the data sourceassociated with the alternate remote computer to query to complete thereal property information of the property and accessing the completereal property information including the records for the selectedproperty.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the first identifierand the second identifier is a URL.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinone of the first source and the second source is a public facingwebsite.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the firstsource and the second source is a backend database.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein none of the first source and the second source is apublic facing website.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstsource is a source of a third type of real property information, whichis infrastructure information.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theuser input includes a click or selection of an area on a map.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the user input includes an address.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the user input includes a GPS position. 10.The method of claim 1, wherein the user input includes a tax parcelnumber.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input includes asearch.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein data layering of the datasources includes layering maps or layering at least one map and otherdata.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying thefirst identifier as identifying the first source; and identifying thesecond identifier as identifying the second source.
 14. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: identifying a third identifier of a thirdsource of the first type of real property information; and storing thethird identifier in the database.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising: retrieving from the third source, using the data sourceindex and based on the identifier of the property, real propertyinformation of the property including the first type of real propertyinformation.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifyinga third identifier of a third source of a third type of real propertyinformation; and storing the third identifier in the database.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising: retrieving from the thirdsource, using the data source index and based on the identifier of theproperty, real property information of the property including the thirdtype of real property information.
 18. The method of claim 1, whereinthe user interface displays a plan, drawing, or map of at least oneselected property of interest.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst type of real property information is at least one of drawings,maps, and plans, or relates to at least one of design, engineering,construction, reconstruction, building, demolition, expansion,remodelling, alteration, sewer line, water line, flood control, canal,control line, power plant, electric power, fuel storage, natural gas,telephone, architecture, floor, ceiling, rooftop, site visibility,hazardous material, hazardous waste, airport, military facility,training facility, rail, road, site plan, parking and traffic data. 20.The method of claim 1, wherein the user input includes at least one of atax parcel number, a metes and bounds description, GIS data, subdivisionplat description, spatial data, a centroid, a cadastre, tabular data,attributes, and non-spatial data.
 21. The method of claim 1, the userinput includes a plurality of identifiers that result in potentialmatches for a plurality of properties.
 22. The method of claim 1,further comprising storing classification data relating to real propertyinformation.
 23. A system comprising: a plurality of remote computershaving real property history data associated therewith and having datasources associated therewith; an alternate remote computer having a datasource associated therewith that is different from the data sourcesassociated with each of said plurality of remote computers; a localcomputer selectively coupled to said plurality of remote computers via acommunications network, said local computer being configured tocommunicate with said plurality of remote computers over saidcommunications network to build a database, wherein the real propertyhistory data includes any records of real property information availablefor identified properties from each identified data source; a memoryincluding the database; and a processor, wherein the processor isconfigured to: store a first identifier of a first data source of afirst type of real property information in the database; store adifferent second identifier of a different second data source of asecond type of real property information in the database; performautomatically data layering of the data sources, wherein a data layeringfeature of a software automatically identifies a particular propertywith real property information from a plurality of governmentalauthorities, utilities, or public works; generate a data source indexassociating a plurality of types of real property information withrespective identifiers of a plurality of different data sources, theplurality of types of real property information including the first typeof real property information and the second type of real propertyinformation, and the plurality of different data sources including thefirst data source and the second data source; receive a user inputincluding an identifier of a property of interest to search the datasources; retrieve from the first source and the second source, using thedata source index and matching the identifier of the property, aplurality of records to populate a web interface with the plurality ofrecords of the real property information of the property including thefirst type of real property information and the second type of realproperty information; determine automatically a potential match for theproperty based on a predetermined threshold and prompt the user toconfirm the match, wherein the matching process includes determining anydiscrepancies between how the property is described by differentgovernmental authorities, utilities, or public works, and reconcilingthem; overlay, on a user interface, at least one of data layers of realproperty information, for the property from the plurality of remotecomputers, and display the layering of geographical information system(GIS) data on the user interface based upon user input to the userinterface; determine automatically that the retrieved real propertyinformation is incomplete, using business rules and based on the datasource index including at least one type of real property informationthat is unavailable in the retrieved real property information of theproperty in the database; flag automatically the identifier of theproperty as incomplete in the database; and identify the data sourceassociated with the alternate remote computer to query to complete thereal property information of the property and access the complete realproperty information including the records for the selected property.24. The system of claim 23, wherein at least one of the first source andthe second source is a backend database.
 25. The system of claim 23,wherein the system includes the first source and the second source. 26.The system of claim 23, wherein the system includes the user interface,which includes a display.
 27. The method of claim 1, wherein the webinterface is a web page.
 28. The method of claim 1, wherein the userinterface includes the web interface.
 29. The method of claim 1, whereinthe records of real property information include both permits andapprovals.
 30. The method of claim 1, wherein the records of realproperty information includes multiple different types of records, thedifferent types comprising at least a plurality of types selected fromthe group consisting of permits, approvals, waivers, exceptions,exemptions, findings, determinations, hearings, official actions,amendments, certifications, orders, applications, maps, plans, andplats.